In the early morning hours of Saturday, November 8th, a fire destroyed the original Grace Baptist Church auditorium that presently houses 3 pre-school classes for Heritage Hall Christian School.  Smoke damage was heavy in the Fine Arts Center and Secondary school buildings.  Even though it is a tragic loss, God's goodness can be seen in the entire situation. 

Faculty and students were to return from a trip to Chicago around 2:00 AM on Saturday morning.  Parents Mike and Carla (HHCS science teacher) Crull and Jack and Angie (Furry) (HHCS alumnus) Spurgeon  were waiting for their students to return home when they noticed smoke and loud noises coming from the pre-school building.  They dialed 9-1-1 which brought a quick response from the Yorktown Fire Department.  Soon they were joined by at least 9 other volunteer fire departments.  Their efforts and strategy prevented the fire from spreading into the other parts of the 3 building complex.  Although the pre-school building is a total loss, the fire could have easily gone unnoticed and destroyed the rest of the school and administrative offices. 

The building, constructed in 1965, was the original auditorium for Grace Baptist Church.  Through the years it has been used for many purposes according to Dr. Collins Glenn, Senior Pastor at the church for over 41 years.  While standing outside the burning structure, Pastor Glenn recounted preaching his first sermon to this congregation in the modest auditorium so many years ago.  He managed, "A lot of memories, a lot of memories", while staring into the smokey haze. 

Pre-school teachers Angie Posey, Amy Bond, and Tara Karnes were numb with disbelief as they watched their classrooms literally go up in smoke.  They had just held Parent/Teacher conferences on Friday, not realizing that it would be the last time to meet in that building.  Every textbook, crayon, table, and chair was lost including teaching materials that had been passed down for over 20 years.  

Headmaster, Dr. Dennis Ice, quickly developed a plan to minimize the time students would be out of school.  Monday, November 10th, will be used to organize faculty and staff to set up classrooms in the church buildings on the north side of River Road. There will be no school for Pre-school and Secondary students.  On Tuesday, November 11th, students will return to classes using four balcony classrooms and the Youth Room for Jr. and Sr. High.  Other nursery space and vacant classrooms will be used for the K-3 and K-4 pre-schoolers.  It will be crowded for a little while, but clean-up crews will begin working on the smoke damaged offices and classrooms as soon as insurance adjusters give the go ahead.  It is a blessing to have the extra classroom space for the students to move into.  Preliminary plans are to have the Jr. and Sr. High students back in the Secondary building and Fine Arts Center by the first of the year.

Grace Baptist Church began revival services with Evangelist Morris Gleiser on Sunday morning.  "I hope this will create unity among our people", said Pastor Glenn.  The blessings have already begun to flow.  Help and assistance have been offered from so many people.  Much prayer and hard work will be needed in the coming days as cleaning, moving, and building are added to the list of running a school on a day to day basis.  Be in prayer for Dr. Ice and his staff as they meet this new challenge in order that young people can continue to have a Christ-centered education at Heritage Hall Christian School. 

On Monday, November 10th, federal and state authorities officially listed the cause of the fire as arson.  Federal ATF agents, and state and local fire officials will continue to investigate the blaze.  More information will be added as it becomes known.  Also visit the school's website at www.heritagehallchristian.org for continued updates.